Bengaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah chaired a review meeting on the progress of the “Chief Minister’s Infrastructure Development Scheme” at the Home Office, Krishna, on Monday. Several senior ministers, top officials and district administrators from across the state participated in the meeting, either in person or through video conferencing.

Ministers HK Patil, MB Patil, KH Muniyappa, Priyank Kharge and Rahim Khan were present at the meeting. Additional Chief Secretary Anjum Parvez, Principal Secretary of the Finance Department Ritesh Kumar Singh, senior officials of concerned departments and Deputy Commissioners of various districts also took part.

During the review, the Chief Minister noted that in 2023–24, approval was given to release Rs 3,510 crore under the Chief Minister’s Special Grant Scheme, allocating Rs 25 crore to each Assembly constituency. Of this amount, works worth Rs 2,040 crore—around 58 per cent—have already been completed, and Rs 920 crore has been paid. Orders have been issued during the Belagavi legislature session to release the remaining Rs 1,205 crore. Siddaramaiah directed officials to ensure prompt payment of bills for completed works.

For 2024–25, approval has been granted for Rs 1,890 crore to carry out road repairs necessitated by rain damage, of which Rs 250 crore has already been released. Under the Chief Minister’s Infrastructure Development Scheme for 2025–26, projects worth Rs 8,666.50 crore have been approved, with Rs 1,000 crore released so far. The Chief Minister stressed that completing all works within the stipulated timeframe and ensuring timely release of funds is the responsibility of the respective Deputy Commissioners. He underlined that there should be no compromise on the quality of works and instructed district in-charge ministers to regularly review project progress.

He further said that during 2024–25, an allocation of Rs 8,666.50 crore has been made under the Chief Minister’s Special Grant Scheme for 205 Assembly constituencies. Proposals from the remaining 19 constituencies are yet to be received, after which further releases will be considered. Siddaramaiah directed officials to complete all tender processes by January 10. Reviewing infrastructure projects related to railways and airports, the Chief Minister instructed that pending land acquisition for railway works should be completed on a priority basis. He asked officials to expedite all required procedures to ensure timely execution of railway line projects on the Kudachi–Bagalkot, Tumakuru–Davanagere, Belur–Hassan, Shivamogga–Ranebennur and Dharwad–Belagavi routes.

The Chief Minister reiterated that infrastructure development remains a key priority of the government and called for coordinated efforts by all departments to ensure timely and quality execution of projects across the state.